Government Help Wanted: Virtual People

ht to: Smart Economy

The Government would like to join in on your blogging conversations.  Of course they won't tell you who they are.

One of the items that came up during the HBGary fiasco that involved leaked e-mails from the private security firms is that the U.S. Government is looking to create software to create "virtual" virtual online people.  These people were to go out onto social media websites and basically act as government sock puppets. 

As part of the deal was the software to manage the "virtual" people, a FBO (Federal Business Opportunity) request was put out.

Here is a portion of it:

Solicitation Number:vRTB220610

Notice Type:  vSources Sought

Synopsis:
Added: Jun 22, 2010 1:42 pm Modified: Jun 22, 2010 2:07 pm Track Changes

0001- Online Persona Management Service. 50 User Licenses, 10 Personas per
user.

Software will allow 10 personas per user, replete with background , history,
supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and
geographically consistent. Individual applications will enable an operator to
exercise a number of different online persons from the same workstation and
without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries. Personas must be
able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through
conventional online services and social media platforms. The service includes a
user friendly application environment to maximize the user's situational
awareness by displaying real-time local information.

Note, I would not take the fact that the "Air Force" is doing the looking at face value.  The Air Force has air sea rescue units that get involve in clandestine insertion and extraction of personnel.